4 - Rivalry
by kaahiescheck
Summary: "'How does that feel, huh' The destiny seemed to be asking Reyna all the time. She had come to the conclusion it could only be a plot to ruin her life and make it so absolutely miserable that there wouldn't be a tiny little chance of something working out alright for her."


**I could have gone so many ways with this. I don't know, it may have been a bit too abstract, but I just went building the timeline to get to Reyna's conclusion that she didn't consider the Greeks their enemies, but their rivals. ****Also, I pity her a lot. I just felt like she deserved a fic all about her misery, so this was born. Seriously, her life is turning out to be so unfair that it makes me sad.**

** I hope you like it!**

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_How does that feel, huh?_

The destiny seemed to be asking Reyna all the time. She had come to the conclusion it could only be a plot to ruin her life and make it so absolutely miserable that there wouldn't be a tiny little chance of something working out alright for her.

Reyna had always told herself that the darkest time of her life was gone – it kept her going. She stuck to the thought she wasn't at that island anymore, she wasn't a pirate's hostage, she wasn't in constant danger of being raped every day. She was at Camp Jupiter, safe, in charge of things.

Of course, it took her years to become praetor, but it was worth it. Those years she had spent with her friends had been the best of her life, and having Jason at her side was more than she could ask for, even if she tended to hide her feelings.

Going on quests with him, rising to praetorship with him, having to spend a lot of time with him, just _knowing_ he was there, being ridiculously _good_ at everything – except understanding she liked him – was a wonderful feeling.

She remembered how, when they had to work late, and they were almost sleeping on all the paperwork spread around the table, and she was stressed to the bone, he would make her smile with some stupid joke.

There was that one time Octavian had really done it, and although punishing him was quite satisfying, she and Jason still had to deal with all the papers. Reyna loved Rome, but sometimes she simply hated their bureaucracy.

Jason let his head fall and hit the table. He groaned. "Kill me. I didn't sign up for this."

"No, but it's still your job."

He just groaned again. Reyna restrained herself from smiling at that. It was adorable the way he acted when he was tired of being responsible. It almost made her feel sorry for him, which is why she reached over and grabbed half his pile of files to put on top of hers. Jason raised his head. "Why would you do that?"

She didn't look up to him, but not smiling was becoming a real hard job. "Don't get used to it, I'm feeling kind today. You should thank me."

"Rey?"

"Yes?"

"You're amazing."

This time, the corner of her mouth went up a little bit. She obviously didn't let it show, but she loved whenever Jason complimented her. She didn't like to think he had so big of an effect on her, because it _was_ a weakness; only he just _did_ that to her. One word from him and she'd blush, and she _never_ blushed. "I know."

Later on, when Jason was passed the giving up on everything phase, he actually retrieved some of his old files from her. Also, he was the only person she didn't kill for calling her by her nickname.

They had kissed once, which only made everything worse, in Reyna's mind. He should've had the decency to understand its meaning. Sure, they were kind of in a hurry and everything, but after they had won, he could have said something.

Mount Otris was a nightmare. It was their third day fighting against those blasted Titans, and Reyna worried. They were obviously hard to kill, and they had already lost so many fighters that it was frustrating. She and Jason had barely slept trying to find a weakness in their defenses to finally bring them down, but for that they needed a plan, and plans take time. Time one could spend sleeping.

They were fighting side by side when Reyna realized their tactics weren't working as well as they had planned. In a swift move, she finally killed the monster in front of them and pulled Jason into a crack in the rocks of the mountain – wide enough for them to get in and small enough to stay hidden.

She didn't need to say anything; he knew, and he was trying to figure it out as well. She couldn't help but analyze his scar, once she was very close to him, and wonder about how many more he had gotten in the past days.

Jason's face slowly showed as he stopped thinking up a strategy and noticed there were not many centimeters between the two of them. They leaned in – well, _she_ mostly, because he seemed to be frozen in spot, although there wasn't much space to lean in – and their lips touched gently. It was a sweet kiss, which lasted no longer than three seconds before Jason leaned out a bit to whisper, "I can take on Krios."

Reyna leaned away abruptly and stared at him. "Are you insane? Alone?"

"He's the one messing everything up for us, mostly."

She wanted to protest; really, she did, but Jason was right. If someone kept that Titan busy, she knew exactly what to do with the rest. She knew she couldn't disagree, neither could she stop him from going, even if it hurt her to let him go. So she just shut her mouth and nodded briefly. He sent her a small smirk before leaving.

_How does that feel, huh?_

Looking back on it, Reyna figured she should have known better. It was clear he wasn't that much interested, otherwise why hadn't he kissed her a little longer? Maybe he didn't even have to do that, but he hadn't given her more than a second of peace before ignoring what had just happened and turning back to the war, as if he wanted to get it over with.

Venus had warned her. The goddess had given hints of Reyna's future disappointment.

Right when their relationship was on edge of becoming something more, Jason just had to go and disappear. It hadn't been more than four days after they'd had a movie night at her place, which had been very fun, by the way.

Yes, she was devastated, especially when she realized he really wasn't anywhere. Her first thought was that they hadn't actually won the war and something had kidnapped him, but as time went by and nothing gave signs of him, Reyna lost hope. Now it was up to her to keep things going; no time for grieving.

Only then did she understand how annoying Octavian could be. She already had to take care of the city all on her own until elections, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted elections. On one hand, she'd have to rule everything alone; on the other hand, she'd have to cope with Octavian in power.

She missed Jason more and more. Of course, she was doing great as the only praetor. The amount of pressure, however, doubled, was distressing. Octavian wanted power, and she wasn't going to give it to him.

_How does that feel, huh?_

When she was losing hope on everything, Percy Jackson showed up, all great and powerful and strong, and people awed at how he controlled Little Tiber. She didn't care much about how he had freed those pirates; he could save her from Octavian and from a mental breakdown caused by stress.

And, why not, he could mend her heart.

Reyna watched him carefully. The way the Lares kept calling him _graecus _was, at least, distressing. If Percy really was a Greek demigod – dared she think it – then she'd never hear the end of it from Octavian. They'd be instantly at war with the rest of his kind, Percy being judged as a nasty spy in the process, and she couldn't let that happen.

After Percy was officially accepted into the Legion, Reyna didn't take her time to consider her options much; it was obvious that the son of the sea god was a good leader and a good person, so she offered him the _praetorship_, never considering the chance of him saying no – which he did, to being _praetor_ and to her suggestion at being "friends". She respected him even more after that, and was pretty sure he wasn't Roman.

She couldn't deny that the fact that Percy already had a girlfriend didn't make her feel down. She cursed herself afterwards for letting her hopes go up, but, even if she'd die before showing it, she was extremely vulnerable at the moment. She was alone and missing Jason far too much, and all she wanted was for him to come back to her.

_How does that feel, huh?_

Now, now, there was more. The darkest part of her life was yet to come, when Percy's Greek friends arrived with a warship and expected not to look as if they were threatening. Oh, please.

But Jason had come from the ship. He had come back – with his hair longer, wearing an orange shirt, standing too close to another girl, but still with his SPQR tattoo, still with his toga, and still back. At the moment, Reyna was very much excited for his return. Only later, when he not so sensitively asked to show his dear new _girlfriend_ around city, was that she realized maybe she'd rather still have him disappeared then being exchanged for a daughter of Venus; sorry, Aphrodite.

Her talk with Percy's girlfriend didn't help her mood.

Then everything got so confused, her city being attack and Octavian trying to convince everyone of the Greek's treachery, she thought she might lose it. Of course, she didn't, but what she was being forced to do was worse: attack Camp Half-Blood.

Reyna didn't want to; frankly, they had bigger issues, like Gaea waking up. However, she was in an impossible situation. If she showed any weakness or hesitations or signs of fondness towards the Greeks, Octavian would take control in the blink of an eye, and that was out of question. He wouldn't stop at anything.

As most people respected her as the leader, they would still follow her, even when she started to delay their advance. It wasn't whole-heartedly, she had to admit. Her will to help the guy who had left her – apparently forever –, the girl who had taken him from her, the guy who had fired against the city – even if possessed –, the guy who had sweetly but still directly rejected her, the girl who had her second crush's heart in her hands, and the two people she still had nothing against – yet, because knowing her life… – was minimum. She was losing her strength.

Octavian talked about the Greeks as their enemies. Unfortunately, some people bought the idea, even if Reyna wasn't fooled. She had very good reasons to want to slaughter Piper McLean, even if she was too classy to act on those thoughts, but she didn't see her as an enemy. They were bound to work together, even though history wanted to prove them otherwise. Reyna believed they were only rivals, who could try to work together.

She so didn't want to attack their camp. At the same time, though, she was tired. Tired of being rejected. It felt like nothing would work out for her, never again, and it was very possible that it'd turn out to be just like that. Thank you for your services, we loved screwing you around.

She had too many grudges. So when she couldn't hold off the attack anymore, she simply didn't.

_How does that feel, huh?_


End file.
